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Monday, August 26, 2019

If a pitcher takes a no-hitter into the sixth or seventh inning, that’s usually around when it starts to feel possible.

It’s also apparently a decent time to pull him.

In the past week, three pitchers were taken out with no-hitters in progress in the sixth inning or later, part of a growing trend in which managers are willing to go to the bullpen even when the starter has a chance to make history. In an era when complete games are rare, this isn’t a surprise, but it’s noteworthy all the same.

Of the three no-hitters thrown this season, two were combined efforts. Only Mike Fiers of Oakland pulled one off by himself, May 7 against Cincinnati.

Dear MLB managers:

If you weren’t so willing to needlessly use the hook with starters, you wouldn’t need to play taxi squad games with relievers and have to put position players in when losing.

Friday, March 15, 2019

SAN FRANCISCO—The belief throughout much of the offseason was that Farhan Zaidi would trade his best relievers in order to get pieces that could help the Giants win in future years. Recently, Zaidi put his own twist on that plan when asked if he could still swing deals centered around bullpen arms.

“It definitely is a position of depth for us,” he said. “We’ll kind of continue to listen because I think it’s a relative position of depth, but I think for us to be successful with the composition of this club, we’ll have to have one of the best bullpens in baseball.”

The Giants are not on anybody’s list of contenders, and they haven’t significantly upgraded a club that’s lost 187 games the past two seasons. But that also doesn’t mean they’re raising the white flag in March, especially not Bruce Bochy’s last one with the club, and Zaidi believes the bullpen can help keep this team in the race.